Surprisingly, the months that followed were too calm, leaving Tsunade restless. The piles of reports on the table only confirmed the uncomfortable silence that hung over the ninja world. According to Jiraiya's latest messages, he and Naruto were returning to Konoha, without any attempt of attack by the Akatsuki. The terrorist group was strangely quiet.
Tsunade leaned back in her chair on the balcony, a half-empty bottle of sake beside her, and the moon reflected in the clear liquid in the glass. The silence of the night was almost suffocating.
'Why did that boy ask for the day off today?'
Li Shang's image appeared uninvited in her mind. A slight blush escaped her serious face.
'Why am I thinking about him while relaxing? Control yourself, Tsunade... you're not a little girl anymore.'
She raised the glass, letting the sake slowly trickle down her throat. Before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, something moved beside her.
"Tsunade-sama, something is wrong with the Hyuuga boy."
A small slug appeared on the balcony railing. It was the messenger from Shikkotsu Forest. Tsunade's expression hardened instantly.
"Where is Li Shang?"
The forest breathed in heavy silence, muffled by the tension that precedes a cataclysm. In the center of an ancient circle of black stones, Li Shang sat cross-legged. His naked torso gleamed with sweat, muscles rigid as steel and covered in runes that pulsed scarlet. Alduin, the half-dragon with ethereal eyes, watched from above, his wings beating slowly. Fenrir, the shadowy wolf, lay like a living shadow, his eyes fixed on his master.
Li Shang raised a gourd and took a sip of the Liquid Yuan. The substance flowed down his throat like liquid fire.
"Now is the time to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm."
His eyes turned to the sky. Black clouds gathered like walls, swirling in a furious vortex. Lightning danced within, like hungry serpents. The sky seemed to collapse.
'I can resist the Heavenly Tribulation.'
He closed his eyes and pulled all the Yuan flowing through his meridians. The energy condensed in his spiritual core, pressing, compressing, imploding — to the threshold of the Fusion Realm's peak.
His eyes opened suddenly.
"COME!"
The scream echoed through the forest like unholy thunder.
At the same instant, the sky responded.
A lightning bolt descended. Not like an ordinary lightning bolt — but like a pillar of primordial destruction. The light was too white, the sound deafening. The earth trembled, the nearest trees evaporated. The lightning struck Li Shang squarely.
His body was carbonized in the next instant.
Alduin roared in the sky. Fenrir sprang up, sniffing the burnt blood.
Li Shang fell to his knees. Burnt skin, exposed muscles, his eyes open only by the insistence of his will.
'Something is wrong... The first Heavenly Tribulation of the Nascent Soul Realm shouldn't be this strong...'
He spat black blood. His skin regenerated and burned again, as if the lightning was still acting even after disappearing.
'Am I going against the laws of this world...?'
In the ancient world from which he came, breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm was a known ordeal. Three lightning bolts. Each destined to destroy and rebuild the body. It was painful, but possible. A necessary cycle to transcend limits.
This time, the first lightning bolt came as if it wished to eradicate his existence completely.
The runes on his body were in tatters. His meridians, cracked. And yet he remained standing, panting, his eyes fixed on the sky that roared again.
'If this was the first... how many more will come...?'
The second light ignited in the clouds.
He just smiled, without strength.
"Tch... so this is the ordeal in this world..."
And the second lightning bolt descended and cut through the sky with uncontrolled fury. It wasn't just energy... it was a judgment. And Li Shang knew it.
When the light plunged like a divine blade, he no longer had the strength to resist alone. The first impact had shattered bones and meridians, and now, even on his knees, his body trembled as if it would implode at any moment.
"ALDUIN! FENRIR! NOW!"
The scream was hoarse, dry, but charged with authority. The two beasts reacted instantly.
Alduin, the ethereal dragon, launched into flight with an explosion of wind and sound, tracing a barrier of flames over Li Shang. Fenrir leaped right behind, digging his paws into the ground around his master, using his resistant body as protection.
The second lightning bolt struck all three, tearing through the skies with an impact that made the forest tremble. The surrounding trees were torn out like dry leaves. The stones of the concentration circle exploded into flaming rubble.
Alduin roared as he was hit head-on. His scales shattered like glass under pressure. Fenrir howled as all his fur stood on end, burning with the cosmic heat of the lightning.
They managed to redirect part of the energy... but the cost was high.
Alduin fell from the sky with a broken wing, purple blood gushing into the air. Fenrir rolled among the stones, half his body smoking, one eye closed permanently.
Li Shang was thrown onto his back, his already carbonized body suffering even more internal ruptures. As he fell, he spat blood... and something else.
Fragments of his own organs.
'Central meridian ruptured... three ribs destroyed... and now I've lost part of my liver. Wonderful.'
He looked up with a crooked smile. The third tribulation was already forming. Clouds denser than before swirled over themselves, creating a dark purple vortex. Golden sparks began to trickle like celestial veins about to collapse on the earth.
"I guess my life will be very short... hehehe..."
A slight laugh escaped his torn lips, more from irony than courage. But then he heard footsteps running among the rubble. A feminine, authoritative voice.
"Neji! What are you doing?!"
Li Shang slowly turned his head, his vision blurred. Tsunade's figure emerged through the dust, incredulous at the scene before her.
Tsunade ran to Li Shang and fell to her knees beside him.
"Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?!"
She touched his chest, her fingers trembling with the heat that still emanated from his injured body. The amount of damage was absurd. Internal injuries. Broken bones. Traces of celestial energy corroding his body.
"You'll die if you stay in this state!"
Li Shang forced his eyes open. Her presence was strong... warm... comforting, but it was too dangerous for her to be there.
"Get out of here... you won't survive if you stay near me."
He tried to push her away, but his arm gave way in the middle of the movement. Even with his consciousness failing, he still tried to protect her.
Tsunade held him firmly.
"I don't know what's happening here, and honestly, I'm too angry to ask right now."
Her eyes shone with contained fury. And then, from the jewel on her forehead, a glow exploded.
Black marks began to spread across her skin like pulsating stripes. It was the Byakugou — fully released.
"But you better have a very convincing explanation when all this is over."
Li Shang's eyes widened.
"Tsunade, no!"
She hugged him tightly, enveloping his entire body with hers, as if her own energy could protect him from what was to come.
The sky broke apart.
The light did not fall. It descended like a verdict. As if the entire universe wanted to eliminate them both right there.
The third lightning bolt struck with a roar that shattered reality around them.
A white flash consumed everything. Silence.